>> next, republican ted cruz will debate paul sadler. this debate will take place in dallas and is a courtesy of kera tv. ted cruz is the former texas solicitor general. paul sadler is a former representative for texas in the house. >> the houston chronicle, the texas association of broadcasters, texas state networks. ♪ >> i would much rather have a government and statesman than politicians. >> he is sending our jobs overseas.

>> americans want people who believe in limited government and the constitution. be theou're going to next senator, you better understand how the government works. >> people are struggling to survive in this country. people will have to come together and work together. >> this is the texas debate and the race for the u.s. senate. we are live from our studios in dallas. i am shelley kofler. i will be the moderator for the final debate between republican ted cruz and democrat paul sadler. welcome, and gentlemen, and

welcome to my panelists. we have with us peggy fikac, ross ramsey, and pedro rojas. we invite you to join the conversation on twitter. we will begin by diving into it some of these policy issues. there is a concern that many texans put at the top of their list. >> a lot of people want a better way of living. by coming year, they should stay here if they can abide by the simple laws of no stealing and not doing anything crime worthy. >> children of illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay, but illegal immigrants should be deported. >> it is illegal. they should go home.

>> legalize them to ensure that we correct things. >> we will start our discussion on immigration with a question from peggy fikac. >> were looking at the specifics of people without documents and texas now. how would things work? >> it is important to deal with this issue. if we do not start dealing with it, 10 years and now we will be arguing about it. what i have said is that we need to secure our border. we have to pass the dream act. we need to give them work permits the we know who are here and who can participate. there should be a reasonable profit to citizenship.

we compare whatever restrictions we want as long as they speak english, have not committed a crime, and have been here for a sufficient amount of time. this will help us and strengthen our state in diversity. we need to get past this. our state is too important to be divided as it is. >> mr. cruz, you want to strengthen border security. how would that affect the people who are here without documents? do you think they would go away? >> immigration is an issue we have to address the many and directions at once. i understand we live in a land of immigrants and it has been a land of opportunity to people all over the world. we need to address legal

immigration and illegal immigration. illegal immigration is a matter of national security. we need to get serious about securing the borders. both parties have talked about this issue for a long time, but neither party is serious about fixing it. there are more interested in demagoguing and scaring voters and are in rolling up their sleeves and getting serious about securing the borders. >> can you specify how you would specify to people to secure the border to prevent people from coming when there are millions already here? what would you do with them? >> the first aid is not -- the first age means securing the borders and having more fences and walls and more agents. that we we know who is coming into the country.

combine that with a strong verify system that would verify whether they could get a job. if he could do that, it would enable a rational conversation about legal immigration. we need to streamline and prove immigration. >> in the meantime, you have any plans? >> the first step is to secure the borders. once we saw the problem, we can have a rational discussion on who wants to come here and improve the system where people wait years or even decades to come here legally. as a practical matter, we will not be able to get that done until we get past all the talking and show we can secure the borders. >> idea think you are out of step with the republican party?

and as a republican platform, it has a program that the republican support of the convention in the summer. you do not support it. >> i did my views conflict with many texans. i have traveled around the state and listened to the concerns that texans raised. it is only in the political world where things get complicated. for most americans, they are concerned about a border that is not secure. they are concerned that many to come in and have a criminal background particularly in a post 9/11 world. i message from the one in this campaign is that we should continue to be a nation that wellcome's and celebrate immigrants. i am that child of an immigrant who came here with nothing. >> i have not heard you name a plan that are already here.

do they -- >> i do not think it should be granted amnesty. we need to start guarding the border. >> i think one of the things you deal with the people who are here is to give them work permits. it makes them to be able to be without running and hiding in the shadows. or they can apply for citizenship if they qualify. to do nothing leaves us exactly where we are. border, wets agenda all want to do that -- to secure the border, we all want to do that. what kind of surveillance and do we have? it was a vietnam era and surveillance.

we test and train the surveillance equipment for the u.s. military within a mile of the border. can you train on border patrol with the surveillance? they said, absolutely. we have that training in all passovel paso. why are we doing that? known as ever asked us. well, i do. i think it is important. >> i will move on to another topic that also involves immigration. >> it is an opportunity that is not open to other countries, allowing illegal immigrants to become legal. should we open that to other countries? >> the situation in that country

is different. it is a regime that porters and murders its own citizens. the united states has allowed a situation of people to take refugees status from a tortured. it is not in the abstract. my father was imprisoned and tortured by batista and my aunt was captured by castro. i would love to be part of a justice and we can do that as soon as we do not have a oppressive, up totalitarian regime in chiba. -- cuba. we should change the rules. until that happens, it makes sense to recognize the oppressive regime. it has been longstanding immigration policy that nations

that are politically oppressive and people fearing persecution. we have granted them refugee status. >> mr. sadler, is in question. >> we needed for our state. we needed for our nation. we need -- the people coming from mexico here are seeking a better way of life. they are seeking worker and freedom and the american way of life. -- they are seeking work and freedom and the american way of life. i am for a package that involves everyone. it is the only way to get past this and move forward. it is so important. mexico is our number one trading partner. we talk about border patrol and

many agents today. it a triple that, we're talking about thousands of agents along the border. i simply think that we have had enough division on this issue. >> great. we will move on to another question involving immigration. >> thank you gentlemen for being here with us tonight. president obama's dream act has given people a lot of hope for legal status. if elected, mr. sadler, what would you do? >> it is an executive order, so i could not do anything about that.

if you talk to these young people, there were brought here by their families. they have been raised here in our schools. there are as much an american, but simply did not have a document. the only one the american way of life. we are america. if we cannot see past giving them a chance, there is something wrong with that. they deserve the opportunity. they have been in our system. many have thought in our military. many have gone to iraq and afghanistan. this is a travesty for us, i think, as a state and as a nation. i would support the dream act. my concern about the executive order is that it can be taken away. you have these young people who have trusted it and identify themselves and their location.

and then a new president comes in and would jeopardize them, that is not right. these are innocent, young people. >> i want to hear mr. cruz's side. senator rubio has proposed -- what would be your view? >> just a few months ago, president obama was asked if he had authority to do this. his response six months ago was that he had no constitutional authority to grant amnesty without changing the federal immigration laws. as the closer to an election, suddenly the authority materialized. one of the things people come to the united states from all over the world is because we are a nation that respects the rule of law. i do not think we should have a president that is setting aside the laws.

this was an action that was contrary to law. it was done for a political purpose. i think immigration reform should proceed through congress and through public debate and you teveryone. i will move on and find out how the candidates are going to do for big corporations to have an incentive to stay in this country and provide good employment for people. >> if you export jobs to other countries, you will never maintain a good and healthy job in this country. >> for someone young let me, the most important thing is jobs. help small businesses. >> social security is not an entitlement. i worked my butt off for years. my money should be there. >> i am not sure how they will do it. will they take it away from

medicare? will the increase the burden on certain segments of our population? >> ok, we will start by talking about the federal debt. you have both said it is a top priority for you. as you both know, entitlements make up about 40% of the federal budget. you would have it reduced, including medicare. many people consider it our right of theirs and they're counting on it. you want to cut costs by giving about your to people to buy the medicare. the budget office has said that over time this will force seniors to pick up the costs themselves. why do you think this is a good way to provide medicare to our

seniors? >> let me start with principles. salsa's security and medicare are a foundation of promises -- social security and medicare are a foundation of promises to have made to our seniors. we need to honor those promises. there is a real difference in politics on how the two parties are approaching this. >> why is this a good idea? >> i am saying exactly that. right now, social security and medicare are careening toward solvency and bankruptcy. harry lee and the democrats are doing nothing to say that those programs. -- harry reid and the democrats are doing nothing to save those programs. we need to reform the program so that they remain viable for the next generation that is retiring.

that is what i think they should do. >> talk about the vouchers if you can. . >> the proposal from governor romney and paul ryan is not a doctor. what it does is that it gives a penny for every existing benefits and for people who are young, it provides two options -- one, that is the with traditional medicare, or two, the can have the choice of having premium support that will enable them to purchase a policy in the private marketplace. that will bring competitive forces to reducing costs. >> critics believe that the private insurance will always accept those seniors who are fairly healthy, but for the sickest seniors end being off on -- end up being on a

government plan. this does not pan out. >> the proposals to be we have a prohibition on skimming off of the healthy seniors. this idea of premium support has a long and bipartisan history. many democrats have supported it previously. it is only been in the past couple of years, coincidentally when the presidential race began, that the democrats are now demagoguing this issue. they do not have an alternative. when you ask president obama how to save medicare, he does not have an answer. as and obama took billions of dollars out of medicare to fund obamacare. that is going backward. sadler.t's ask mr.

clearly we need to save some money. >> we have to make some hard decisions. we can keep them for all of them. this is the promise we made to each other. we want seniors to live with dignity and house hospitalization coverage. -- and have hospital coverage. one, you can raise the gap. you can apply taxes to it. if you make above a certain level, you do not. when social security was formed -- >> and talk about medicare. >> i will. the income has dropped down to 83%. if it was brought down to the original framework, we would add a decade and after social

security. we could save social security for all of us. medicare is more difficult. look at the rising health care costs. we do not have an answer to look at rising health care costs. we have health care costs been going through the roof. one of the things that the affordable health care act does in combination with what we have seen in medicare and how it modifies medicare is that it others those two things together. there's a cap on health care costs. the affordable health care act gazette. the extensive program. >> and do you see any cuts that you would reduce? or would you allow it to continue as it is? >> there are cut on things like administrative costs and salaries and things for the providers, but it maintains the benefits.

those are the things that matter. the $716 billion cut from providers, we will have to watch that. are we going to make those cuts too soon and too fast? we will have to monitor that. every program you enact requires that type of watching to make sure it works out and it works correctly. the affordable health care act does -- >> thank you. we will move on. you do both support very different plans in how you would approach this. we will move onto another question. this one goes to mr. sadler. >> everything should be on the table, including letting the bush tax cuts expire, even for

the middle class. why is that a good idea? >> i am not sure i can explain this as well as i can. let me try. our debt is at 16 trillion dollars. i hate the debate we're having in this country. we are writing tax policy basically a what is your constituency and your political party. it is the obligation of all of us. we have to cut spending and balance our budgets. even if we do that, we might eliminate the deficit in some time in the future. not all we are still in afghanistan. pay down the national debt requires more ian era.

yet to make revenue at some time. when you do that, it is a shared responsibility and shared sacrifice. >> please summarize. we are running a little bit behind. we're getting great answers, but we need to be sustained. >> ok. >> thank you. >> it may not happen all at once or immediately, by we do need to discuss it. i do not like the we are pitting one american against another. >> the ceo of the congressional budget office has suggested that when the bush tax cut? i would be an up to provide enough money to avoid the fiscal cliff everyone has been talking about. is a country better off? >> i think if we raise taxes, it

would kill jobs. independent businesses have estimated that barack obama's plan for raising taxes on small businesses and owners that it would kill jobs in our economy. our economy should be about choices. it is a clear choice between mitt romney and barack obama. in this race it is a clear choice. if i am elected, i will not support raising taxes on any texans. my opponent has said that every taxpayer in texas, he would consider raising taxes on. he is aggressively more pro tax raising than barack obama. my opponent has said that he would raise taxes on every taxpayer. that is a sharp contrast.

that is a choice for the texans to make. >> can i come in here? >> sure. >> your not going to pay down that national debt by cutting spending. you cannot do that. no one with any intelligence has come to that conclusion. we have to pay down our national debt, but -- >> thank you. >> the national debt is a shared responsibility for every american. >> can i jump in here? this is the most important topic that we are discussing. >> we will allow you to answer succinctly if you can. we will ask one more question on the economy. go ahead. >> i agree with mr. sadler that

we cannot solve the national debt by cutting spending. the only way to do that is to grow. what we need to do and be is the aggressively pro-growth. we need to get growth up to historical levels. that is they turn around the debt. that is how you get to do 3 million people out of work. >> let me ask you something quickly. if you were to eliminate the income tax for the highest earners, it is estimated that by doing that alone you would avoid the fiscal cliff. we would not be in the position we are on now. why does not not a good

solution? >> it would kill jobs. if you talk to texans in the state, the issue they are most concerned about is jobs and the economy. if you raise taxes on dog owners and entrepreneurs -- on job owners and entrepreneurs -- the best way to get things done is scaling back the abuse of regulation from this administration that is hurting small businesses and tax reform. that is how you create jobs. >> that is not a history that is correct or correct. you cannot grow your way in this. not any intelligent person that has looked at this.

they are simply too great. we can be honest about this and with the tether and americans are we can keep on doing this simple answers over and over again and keep digging a deeper hole. >> would you maintain the tax cuts for the highest income earners? are we to eliminate it? >> you have mixed up the fiscal cliff with the national debt. they are different issues entirely. i plan to reduce the national debt can take place anytime in the future. to avoid the fiscal cliff is about cutting back on spending and balancing our budget. what i am saying to people is that if you are serious about reducing the national debt, we

will have to put some kind of plan in place. there should be a shared responsibility from all. we need to pay down our national debt. >> quickly, the highest leaders -- >> when america was attacked on 911, we were all attacked. >> you can either cut spending and try to jack up the prices, but other way can do is to cut spending and an act program policies that will allow businesses to create jobs. >> we want to continue talking about jobs. pedro as the next question.

my view in terms of deconductions -- deductions is we should take over the tax code. one of the things i'm optimistic about is next year, the next couple of years, we'll have the potential for real bipartisan cooperation. right now, $500 billion a year is spent just on tax compliance, on lawyers, on account tabt -- on accountants, on wasted expense, that's about the same amount as our entire defense budget. if we simplify the tax code, and you look historically, some of the greatest examples of bipartisan defense have been tax simplification, whether under john f. kennedy or ronald reagan, where you saw both parties come together, lower marginal rates, broader rates,

that's how you get growth. >> that was called raising tacks. -- taxes. if you lower the rate and broaden the base and get the same amount of revenue and say you're going to close loopholes, loopholes are deductions by some business or entity that wants them. you're requiring that entity or group to pay more in taxes. you are raising taxes. mr. romney is raising taxes, mr. obama is talking about raising taxes and so are you. i've been through this before. i went through it with the state of texas. we tried to close loopholes, exemptions and deductions, lower property tax rates and every group in the state said you're raising taxes. you're raising tacks on us. do it to somebody else but not me. the big shock will be if you get elected to the united states senate, if you try to do that, the u.s. chamber, grover norquist who you pledge your support to, will jump out and

immediately say, you're raising taxes. six year fls now, someone will be sitting in this chair and accuse you of raising taxes by closing those lap hole -- loopholes. you'll say, paul sadler told me that's true. if you close loopholes and remove deductions you're raising taxes. >> go ahead and respond. >> i think mr. sadler and i have different definitions of raising taxes. if you eliminate loopholes and don't lower rates, that is raising taxes. but if you eliminate loopholes and lower rates so that the tax rates are not going up, that's not raising taxes but you look historically, every time that's been done, revenue goes up. i am all for increasing revenue through growth. through helping, if small businesses are doing better, if more people have jobs that are producing more, tax revenue goes up but not through jacking up rates but helping small businesses and entrepreneurs create more economic growth.

>> every time you take away someone's exemption and they're paying a tax they didn't pay before, they'll say you raised my taxes. >> it depends. it's true if you done lower the marginal rate. but if you eliminate a deanaheim mighty ducks and lower the rate the amount of tax paid on that income can be the same. that's not raising taxes if you're writing a tax -- a check for the same amount. >> in the to you but if you lower charlie's taxes and lower my deductions, that's a tax increase. >> it is a tax increase. >> we could talk about this all night it's very important and interesting but we want to take advantage of the time we have left to talk about a few other things. we're going to get back tooth policy discussion in a moment. what we want to do now is give both of you an opportunity to compare your records so based on a coin toss, mr. cruz you get to speak first. tell us why you believe you would be the better senator for texas to send to washington. >> there are two approaches to the economy and job creation.

one is continuing down the road of the obama democrats, more and more spending, more and more debts, higher taxes and more and more regulation of the economy in our lives. we tried that for three and a half years and it doesn't work. the my is struggling. the median income in this country has gone down $4,000 under president obama. the other approach is the approach exemplified by ronald reagan. lower taxes. restrain government spending. empowering small business, empowering entrepreneurs. i'm proud to have the support of the national federation of independent business, of the texas association of business thombing u.s. chamber of commerce, of small business owners in texas because my focus is going to be helping small business owners create jobs. that's how we turn our economy around. >> mr. sadler, why would you be the bedder -- better senator? >> i've done the things he talks about. i've been in the legislature, aye passed the bills, i've

heard thousands of hours of committee hearings with texans from all over the state. i was in the legislature from 1991 to 2003. i left when my youngest son was involved in an accident. i served on a number of committees. i'm co-author of the education code, passed teacher pay raises, the largest property tax cut in the history of our state. i passed -- i was -- since then i've been involved in the wind industry and in that capacity aye also, governor brownback, the republican governor of kansas, asked me to help solve the tall grass prairie preservation in kansas and i helped negotiate that. governor mary fallon in oklahoma asked me to help. governor perry requested that i went to morocco and got a

memorandum of understanding between morocco and the state of texas. i have experience doing the thing he is talks about doing. >> we're going to move on to policy discussion. from the economy, to health care. what kind of system we should have here in this state. we asked voters and here's what they told us. >> i feel that federal health care plan known as obama care is a step in the right direction. we do need a more comprehensive health care plan. >> i'm a freelance artist, for many years, i haven't had insurance. there are a lot of other people that don't have insurance and i think it's wonderful that people can be supported. >> because macare is overreach by the federal government actually requiring citizens to purchase a product. i think that's a little too much. >> i think throw the whole system in the garbage and start over. >> ok. some opinionated voters there. we're going to start our discussion on health care first with a question to paul sadler. >> texas has many doctors right

now who won't take medicaid patients we have right now. how to you propose to solve that for people who currently have medicaid and for the millions more being proposed to be added to medicaid rolls? >> we have to do whatever we can to make sure we keep as many physicians willing to take medicaid patients as possible. you hear two different stories. you hear a story from the doctors saying that they won't do medicaid but you talk to people that are involved with medicaid, the pearnts with children that are voed, the cancer patients dependent upon, -- upon it, they say they have plenty of doctors and are getting great medical kear. it's always a concern. the fact of the matter is you hear different stories depending on who you talk to. i don't know that the surveys we've seen on the number of physicians not doing medicaid truly represent the actual numbers. i'm not sure that there's partition -- that there's participation in the surveys. that being said, we reduce it

by making sure that medicaid reimburses the benefits, the payments that are necessary. we fund the local hospitals, i fought for funding for the local hospitals. i know what that means. >> thank you. >> do you think the government has a responsibility to provide access to care for people we're adding to medicare? and if so, how to we do that? >> well, medicaid has been a social safety net we've had for many years and i think we need to continue to honor that commitment. if you look right now, medicaid is another one of those entitlements careening toward insolvency. harry reid and the democrats in the senate are doing nothing to step up and solve that problem and preserve medicare. we need leadership there. beyond that, how do you deal with low income texans who earn too much income to qualify for medicaid and yet not enough income to be able to purchase health insurance themselves?

i think the answer are free market reforms, in particular, allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines. if we create a 50-state national market, what that will mean is that texans will have available to them a lot more low cost catastrophic health insurance plans and the biggest barrier to access right now is the cost of insurance is too high. if we created a 50-state national market, we can lower the cost dramatically and expand access, allowing texans to purchase health care. >> we're going to continue with this line of questioning. peggy will take it further. >> it's said it would be cheaper for people to go to emergency rooms to get health care than add them to medicaid as an expansion of the program. what evidence do you have to support that? >> the context of that question is, i was asked, gosh, wouldn't it save money for everyone to expand medicaid and put a large portion of additional texans on

medicaid? and the answer was no. it's not a cost saver to do that. the answer for those individuals is what ross and i were just talking about. having free market reforms to create a 50-state national market so people can afford health insurance. that's a far better way than putting them on government provided single payer health insurance. >> how do you think they'd be able to afford the type of insurance available in a 50-state market? >> what you do ve deuce the barrier rerks deuce the mandates driving up the cost of health insurance and with the availability of low cost health insurance, the basic principles of supply and demand operate in that market as with any other. if the costs drop a lot more people can afford it. >> and it's not working. it's not working. that market as in any other market, health care costs will go down. but we know, rural citizens know, that's not true. they're going up. you can create the market, 50

states or whatever, but the fact is that you're going to have people in this country who cannot afford the health care and you're going to have children that are in need of the coverage. i've seen them. i've been with them. and it's devastating. it's devastating for families. i met a couple in georgetown, he's a -- he makes six figures, his wife is a scot & white doctor, they had a child who is sick, that child is having to qualify for medicaid. medicaid is there in the safety net because the costs are so greta families need it. simply doing a free market solution as he describes by itself is not working now. i'm not saying move to a single course payment but we've got to fund medicaid. we have to do that. if you want to talk about raising taxes, i'm not afraid of that. i'm not afraid of it at all. there are things in this country that are too important

to do away with. social security, medicare, medicaid, are too important for taos lose because someone won't raise taxes. >> we have one more question on health care, i'm going to ask you to be brief so we can speak briefly about foreign policy this question first for mr. cruz. there's been a big discussion about women's contraception at the federal level. should an employer who personally opposes health insurance that covers birth control be required to offer contraception coverage to female employees or should individual employers have the right to decide and deny that coverage. should all women get the same thing? >> of course the federal government should not be forcing catholic hospitals, catholic charities to violate their religious beliefs. this is an issue that's been subject to a lot of

demagoguery. it's not about access to contraception. no one is talking about denying access to contraceptions. >> but having it under a insurance plan. >> this is crossing a fundamental threshold. the democratic party for years was proud to be the first major party to nominate the first two catholics to be a candidate for president of the united states. and i would ask, what would an al smith or a john f. kennedy think of a president who says that catholic -- to catholic hospitals, to catholic charity, change your religious briefs or i'll use my power as president to shut down your hospitals and charities? >> you believe an entity that does not believe contraception should be covered should have the right to say no? >> yes, i believe the first right in our bill of rights is the right of religious liberty. as solicitor general of texas i was proud to defend religious liberty for the state of texas in front of the u.s. supreme court. i think it's tragic that

president obama and the national democrats are stepping on the religious liberty of catholic charities and catholic churches. i think that's wrong. we should be standing for everybody's religious liberty. >> mr. sadler, same question. should plorse be able to make a decision whether to cover birth control and contraception? >> i think women should have the right to contraception, regardless. i do. and i think it should be included in the policies. this issue has been resolved in my mind, i think, i just think this is an easey decision. women are adults. they have the right to contraception. it's a federal issue, it's a personal issue, it's a health issue. and how many times have we heard mr. cruz tonight blame the democrats? do you want to know what's wrong with this country? we spend so much time blaming each other. we can talk friendly to each other and we can find bipartisan solutions. if we cant to -- if we want to. but you've got to send the right people to washington to do it. >> thank you very much.

finally, we take a few minutes that remain and talk about foreign policy. >> a lot of jobs including jobs in the local area, that's a return on investment society benefits from if. >> there should be no cuts as far as our defense of our untry is concerned. none whatsoever. >> our defense spending is in the trillions. i don't think it needs to be in the trillions. >> israel is our ally. it's always been our strongest ally in the region. i don't think necessarily we should bomb anyone but we should stand behind our ally. >> if the united states participates in this combat, it's going to drag every other superpower into this. >> if you take an armored response off the table, but to me, it's action z. >> pedro has a question for mr. crudse. >> as you know, we have reports

that he could die any moment now. if he dies soon, should the u.s. change its policy? >> if fidel castro dies, he has been a cruel and impressive tyrant but his brother raul is still a dictator ruling cuba. i hope if and when fidel castro dies, he seems to have defied all expectations up to this point, that it will lead to change in cuba. i don't think we should change our foreign policy to cuba unless and until they stop being an oppress i totalitarian state that imprisons and tortures its citizens. i'm hopeful that when fidel castro dice, and it may take raul castro dying as well, we can change.

>> mr. sadler? >> i agree with him. i think you have to see what comes after. see what our policies are after that. >> thank you very much. peggy has a question for mr. sadler. >> tens of thousands of people have been killed in the mexico drug war. would you support an increase of presence of the national guard at the u.s.-mexico border in light of this? >> we have done that, we have 26,000 border agents up from 15,000 during president bush's tenure, we have the right to defend our border and we should. that's why we have to secure the border. this is a complex issue in many -- in many respects. it takes cooperation between the yeats and mexico. as you know, i'm sure, there was an agreement back in 2008, i believe it was, between the united states and mexico where we helped with technical

support and votes in aircraft to help with the war on drugs and the cartels in mexico. this is something we have to continue to balance because we're stuck in these stereotypes. el paso, if the people of texas don't know this, el paso is the safest city in america for a city its size. we have safe cities an communities along our border. this is a great economic engine for our state. these are great communities, this is important, we have to stop thinking in terms of such violence in the valley and el paso because it's not the truth of what's going on in the state. >> there are people with concerns, however, should we increase the national guard? >> if it's necessary and needed and we can assist in curtailing drug activity, we should.

we have -- we have to protect our citizens. >> mr. cruz? >> i already said, we should trip they will u.s. border patrol. the question raised is a very important question. mexico is a great and mighty nation. and it is tragic what is happening in mexico. it is tragic the violence. i was visiting with a mexican businessman some time ago who described to me how he receive fled drug lords a letter that detailed where every one of his grandkids had been for the last week minute by minute. it is tragic what's happening in mexico. i think the united states should work cooperatively with mexico help the mexican government solve this problem, stop the violence and stop the drug lords that are terrorizing so many innocent citizens. >> national guard as well? >> more funding for the mexican military? >> i think we should work cooperatively. the danger with funding is unfortunately one of the real problems mexico is struggling

with is corruption. its rule of law is so imperiled right now, i don't think we should be sending money when there's a risk of corruption. but we should work cooperatively to help solve the problem. >> we've had this agreement in place and it worked well. i think we have great cooperation with our past president of mexico and i think the new president-elect is supportive as well. >> in the few minutes we have left, we want to hear from each of you and we want you to tell the voters about one personal decision that you've made that exemplifies the kind of character you'd be taking to the u.s. senate. you each have a minute. mr. cruz you go first. >> i want to actually point to two decisions. one, it is -- there's so much partisanship right now in washington. and it is relatively rare to see leaders willing to stand up to those in their own party. when i was the solicitor general of texas serving under

greg babbot, the biggest case i dealt with was medellin vs. the state of texas. the president of the united states, who was a republican, issued an order to the state of texas to obey me world court and a as solicitor general i was proud to go before the u.s. supreme court, oppose a republican president of the united states and defend u.s. sovereignty. the second decision i would point to, how we conducted this campaign from day one. there are career politicians in both parties in washington. who they they're above the law. who make decisions to get elected and re-elected. our campaign has been based on the groose roots. we have gone to literally hundreds of ihops and v.f.w. halls and denny's and the strength of the campaign has been grass roots across texas because elected representatives work for the people of texas. >> thank you, mr. cruz. mr. sadler. something that you decided or done in your life that you think exemplifies the kind of character that you would take

to washington. >> character is formed over a lifetime. my mother and father probably, not probably, did and still -- did instill some great things and qualities and try to teach me about life but honestly the one that i think probably tested our family's character more than anything was the injury to our youngest son. when he was involved in the auto accident. when you have a child that's been seriously injured, he was in a coma for four and a half days, and your life gets put on hold. and we faced the prospect of losing a child. you learn pretty quick what's important. where your priorities are. from a personal character standpoint that's without question the most important event that's happened in all our lives in our family. from a legislative standpoint, character and integrity is all you have. and being chairman of the committee doing the things that mr. cruz talks about requires

character every single day. you don't get chairmanships and you don't get named 10 best without having character. and that experience has value. it has value for our state. it has value for our nation. it always has in this state. i hope the people of texas will take a look at that because it's very important. >> i'm told we have about a minute and a half left. >> i spoke too quick. >> has that ever happened? >> occasionally but not often. usually we run out of time. in the last minute and a half we have. when you go to washington you'll take many skills with you. but there's always a learning curve on something. there's something where you're going to have to rely on others to get up to speed. what is the one thing, mr. cruz, you think you will have to lean on some of the colleagues there, some policy issue, where, you're going to need some help and you want somebody to help you find a way? >> as you point out, washington is a complicated place. it is a place that unfortunately has been broken a long time.

i'll tell you what i have been doing the past several months of the campaign is seeking advice from those who have been up there, seeking advice from senator john cornyn, seeking advice from senator kay bailey hutchison, seeking advice from former senator phil gramm, all of whom have given me their insights on how to be effective, how to defend texas. >> is there something you want to learn more about or maybe you think your knowledge base is not where you want it to be? >> i'm drawing on their experience and show them -- i haven't served in the u.s. senate, neither has mr. sadler, i welcome and rely on their experience about the institution, about the individual people in that institution and my intention if and when i'm elected in november is to put my nose down, roll my sleeves up and do the hard work it's going to take to fix these problems. >> mr. sadler, how would you get up to speed and is there a policy area you think you would have to lean on your colleagues? >> foreign policy.

we're not privy to the security briefings that senators get. we don't have those things. i've been very measured in my criticisms of -- i've never been critical of mr. obama or mr. romney on foreign policy because i think it's important that you know what you're talking about. as a united states senator you need to know when to deep your mouth shut and right now that's the time. we aren't privy to everything they know. that's an area where i would look forward to having briefings and having the opportunity to learn more about. >> thank you very much, thanks to you for -- thanks to you the candidates for joining us and my colleagues for being here as well for this texas debate. we'll make this program available on texasdebates.org. election day is tuesday, november 6. good night. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> see the final presidential debate monday night live on c-span, c-span radio and online at c-span.org. coming up on c-span, two campaign events from earlier today. next, vice president joe biden in sun city, florida. followed by new jersey governor chris christie in virginia on behalf of mitt romney. later, a new mexico senate debate between martin heinrich and republican heather wilson. >> i have anned this question many, many times. it starts with the fact that from the day i was born until the day my mother died, she told me about who i am, who we are, who my brothers are, who my family is. and i have never used the information about our native american heritage to get any advantage. not to apply to college, not to apply to law school, and not to get hired for any jobs.

>> part of this race is also integrity and character and trustworthyness and there's a test you take. i believe she failed that test. if you look back and see, in one is questioning what our parents told her when she was younger but when she was asked by the "boston herald"," why is she -- harvard touting her as a woman of color, a nate every american. after five weeks of misleading papers, she said, i self-reported. she never answered why she in fact did that. >> all this month and leading up to election day, follow the key house, senate and governors' races on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org/campaign2012. >> i use c-span in a business capacity. i love keeping up with the hearings, when i try to figure out what's going on on c-span

-- what's going on on the hill, i go to c-span. most recently, i covered all the technology. cybersecurity i think was the last one i watched. it really, i needed to know what was going on. i didn't want to wait for the coverage a couple of hours later so of course i turned to c-span. >> megan pollack watches c-span on direct tv. c-span, created my berke's -- by america's table companies in 1979, brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> vice president biden campaigned earlier today. first of a two-day stop before the presidential debate on monday in florida. this is just over 40 minutes. [cheers and applause]

>> good afternoon. my name is barbra and one of my first questions is are you ready and you answered it. i stand with president obama and vice president biden because they represent middle class america. [applause] they are one with us. so when there was a chance to volunteer with the campaign, i could not say no. everyone has their story and why they're on team obama biden. and mine is one of winning a battle against breast cancer. now i know there are many people in this room can also share that same story. i've been cancer free for ten years but i was worried, always

worried that it would eventually return and i would hit my lifetime cap. and that my insurance would no longer cover me. it was really frightening to have that in the back of my mind. i worried what if i relapsed. but because of president obama and vice president biden that day finally arrived where i and millions of americans would no longer have to fair that unreasonable limit of a lifetime cap and worry that i would go broke just because i got sick again. [applause] so i like -- so i like the name of obama care because to me it

just shows that we have a president and vice president who cares about all of us. but mitt romney doesn't believe that. he promises to repeal obamacare on day one. he says heel kill it -- he'll kill it dead which will let insurance companies deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions and bring back those lifetime limits. we can't let that happen florida, we can't. and the only way to make sure it doesn't is by standing by president obama and vice president biden because they have stood by us. [applause]

they've fought for us and now we need to fight for them and vote for them. so are you fired up? [applause] you're ready for joe, okay. please welcome joe. [applause] hey everybody, how are you? [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you so much.

before i begin i want to introduce you to the love of my life and the life of my love. this is my daughter ashley biden. ashley is a social worker and a married lady but my mom was an irish catholic lady and she had all kind of expressions and one was a son is a son until he gets a wife, a daughter is a daughter all her life. so she took off work a couple of weeks to come down and make sure her dad didn't get in too much trouble. i'm glad to be here with one of my truly good friends. in the united states congress a congress person will stand up and say my good friend from.

well, this is my good friend. i want to tell you something about this guy. this guy has got a backbone like a ramrod and he has the most important currency anyone can posses i would argue in life, but clearly in the business he's in. and that is he's a man of his word. whatever he says, he does and i love him for it. folks before i begin, i want to remind y'all but in florida y'all can vote now. even before early voting starts on the 27th just go to your county supervisor of elections and ask for an absentee ballot and you can fill it out right there and it is done. if you're look around the country at places like iowa i hope it keeps up, because we're winning the early voting.

[applause] >> i know no one paid attention but we've now had three debates, only about 70 million people watched it. two between the president and governor and one with me and congressman ryan. and i think that one thing has come across pretty clear to the american people and this is not hyperbole, we have fundamentally different views on how to move this country forward. it is a fundamentally different value set. these are honorable decent men, they are good father's and good husband's but they have a fundamentally different view of how to go about moving this nation forward. the differences are profound on foreign policy and afghanistan.

i said the president and i will leave afghanistan by the end of 2014 period, no ifs or buts. because our job will be done. we have trained 315 afghanistan soldiers already. it is time for them to step up and take responsibility of their own countries and for us to come home as we did in iraq. but governor romney and congressman ryan and made it clear, their willing to stay. they say that maybe we can leave in 2014. their phrase is it all depends. this shouldn't surprise you because everything with them is it depends, it depends on the moment, it depends on who they're talking to. it depends on in the case of governor romney what day of the week it is.

i've never seen a man move on so many fundamental issues over a period of four to six years in my life. another place where the differences could not be more stark as the debate showed between our team and there team is on women's rights. [applause] president obama, as i've said repeatedly, the president and i are committed to one thing and no one should make any mistake about this for real, because some of you may not like what i'm about to say. but no one should make any mistake that we are committed to our daughter and grand daughters have every single to opportunity to control their lives as my son and grandson without exception, every single one. [applause] you heard the debates.

it was made very clear that they do not share that view. they do not believe a woman has the right to control her own body i did. romney and ryan made it clear they're willing to impose their views on the public. it's clear they don't believe in protecting a woman's access to healthcare. they're willing to turn the decisions back to the insurance companies. if you know check with your daughters out there, check with them. they get charged 50% more than your sons get charged. where pregnancy is literally a preexisting condition. i'm serious. under the obama legislation, that cannot go on. they're not allowed to do that. and folks, after listening to

particularly congressman ryan, because it was very stark, the view that he expressed on behalf of he and governor romney, how many of you think after a romney appointed supreme court four years from now row v. wade will still be the law? on tuesday when the governor was asked a direct question about equal pay for women, he talked about binders. that was true. if this wasn't so serious, you'd this think i was making this up. he came back and said i have binders full of qualified women. how did he have to go ask for binders to find qualified women? really, it is pretty kind of -- it gives sort of a window into how he thinks about these things. ladies and gentlemen, and he didn't answer the question are

women entitled to equal pay for equal work. and i want to tell you something, this isn't just a matter of equity and fairness. i don't want my daughter who graduated with a masters degree, i don't want her doing the same job a man does and somebody telling me she's not entitled to the same exact pay. i don't want to hear that. and by the way, nor does her husband, nor do your sons in laws and sons who are married because it's about economic power. it's about the impact on families. it's more than an issue of women's rights. it's about economic rights and economic power. so when a woman doesn't get paid equally the family suffers, your grandchildren surf, your son-in-law suffers. but folks it shouldn't surprise

you he didn't answer the question. he wasn't even for the lillie led better act and all that did was say if a woman find out she's been cheated at work in terms of her just compensation, she can sue for just compensation from the moment she finds out. there used to be a law that said if she didn't find it out for the first little bit of time she lost her right to bring that action. minor change. ryan voted against that in the senate and romney's spokesperson said he would have voted against it were he there as well. talk about being out of touch. and now they're abandoning the core principles of this new republican party. and when i say new republican party, i don't mean that in a demograding way. this is not your father's republican party.

this is not the republicans you grew up with. not the people i work with and my colleague worked with all those years. this is as my younger granddaughter said this is a different breed of cat. they're good people but this is not even mitt romney's father republican party. but what have been the core organizing principles of this new republican party. and they have been championing it and they are smart and have a firm view. that is based on two things, massive tax cuts for the very wealthy because they are the job creators in these people's views. and significant cuts particularly in entitlements to vital programs out there because that's the only way to get the country in shape, they argue.

it's not an illegitimate position to take. i fully disagree with it. but that's been the organizing principle of the republican congress for the last four years. that's been the organizing principle of all the candidates who ran for the nomination in the republican party. and now after the convention, we find out -- no, we didn't mean that. no, there is no $5 trillion tax cut. you heard them say that. and now all of a sudden congressman ryan says his budget doesn't actually cut vital programs of slow growth. he's changed the whole view. i'm serious, here is what he says now. he says i do not cut those programs, i just slow the growth of those programs. well, that's the same budget that has already passed the house of representatives with every republican but one or two voting for it and the same budget -- i guy has never been

accused of being a liberal newt gingrich called right wing social engineering. and all of a sudden that's not their budget anymore. they've already passed it once and now ryan is saying his budget doesn't eliminate the guarantee of medicare, it doesn't eviscerate education, it's like romney standing in an unemployment line in florida and turning to the guy and saying i didn't out source your job, i offshored it. [applause] you guys may remember, you know me, i'm the quiet type. you remember about three months ago i was pointing out "the washington post" pointed out that romney when he was running bain, and by the way honorable company and people.

but the point is their job is totally different than the job of a president. their job is to maximize profits but notes th that's not the job of the president. so that's why "the washington post" looking at all the records of bain said that romney running bain was a pioneer in outsourcing. i was making these speeches about that is legitimate business enterprise but it's not the president's job. the president's job is to create jobs in america, bring jobs back to america, keep jobs in america. that is the president's job. now i don't know if you remember but when i made that first speech, the romney campaign responded and said -- they had some important guy responding and he said the following what vice president biden doesn't understand there is a difference between outsourcing and offshoring.

tell that to all those folks who don't have a job because the factory picked up and went to the cheapest place with the least regulations they could go helped by governor romney. iv ladies and gentlemen the president said the day after the debate that romney's plans had become sketchy. i'm reluctant to correct the president on anything. but i would respectfully suggest they're not sketchy, their etchy sketchy. you know those tablets your kids have. i'd shake that sucker. i'd dial in a new sketch. let's talk for a second about medicare.

with medicare they've gone to great pains to tell you how we have cut medicare, have stolen from it and have done all these things you see these adds about $719 billion etc. well ladies and gentlemen, i know there's no woman out here who knows anybody on medicare but some of you guys do. here are the facts and you know them. the facts are since the president has moved and streamlined the system, people who are approaching the donut hole and only we seniors know what the donut hole is. that prescription place wru have to pick up the total price of your drug cost, their saving $600 a year already. that's happened. now secondly, today if you go for a wellness visit there is no co-pay.

if you have a standard exam, whether it's a ma'am gram, no co-pay now. and in the process, we have guaranteed the solvency of the trust fund to the year 2024. so what they tell you is not true. but it's what they don't tell you that's most important. remember sometimes when your kids come in after curfew and they'd tell you that when they left but they wouldn't tell you the silent part was where they had been, you know what i mean? let's take a look at what they're not telling you. what they're not telling you is that their move would eliminate all those things immediately. and this is factual, facts are stubborn things, they matter. if they are elected in january and immediately repeal what we've done with regard to medicare and healthcare, you're

premiums will go up $312 a year immediately for those of you on medicare right now. that will happen. medicare trust fund will become insolvent in 2016 if they do away with the savings we put into the system. they don't want to talk to you about the premium support. it's a voucher. you're going to get this chip in the mail if you are 55 years or younger by the time you get to qualify and everybody will be off of medicare automatically. everybody is off. you can buy back in if you can afford to buy back in or you can buy private insurance with that chip if you can afford. but every study has shown the reason why they're doing is they

need to save a lot of money for these tax can you please tell us. the first one of these they passed in the house of representatives was passed overwhelmingly would increase the yearly fee for the same healthcare you're getting now by $6400 a year out of pocket. that's the congressional budget office. that's the referee. the democrats and republicans acknowledge. they went ahead and passed it any way. romney said he would sign it. then when that got no traction because of guys like bill nelson stopping it in the senate and he realized it was so unpopular, then what happened is they came along with a new program. it's still the same voucher. the voucher is just works a little different. but without going through the detail with you, it's still going to cost seniors tense of

thousands of dollars. there are three studies one of which says it would cost somebody 54 years a total of $60,000 more to have the same coverage medicare gives them over their life of medicare. another study came out today and said it was going to in fact, you would have everybody going on medicare if it was in place now would cost you about $120 a month more than you now pay for the same healthcare you're getting now. that's if it went into effect. that's what the foundation said. this is not joe biden. they found the voucher plan being proposed, more than 90% of people in florida on medicare would have higher premiums. the average premium increase for seniors would be over $200 per

month or $2400 a year. this is a pea in a shell game. no matter how you cut it, they're come bind massive tax cuts for the super wealthy is going to cost a lot of seniors out of pocket and it's going to put great pressure on your kids and grandkids. the one thing i have a problem with from our friends on the right end -- and i like congressman ryan but he talks about we have to save this for my generation. let me tell you something. like a lot of you, when my mom and dad got sick, i had the great honor of being able to take them into my home and care for them. my dad worked you will his whole life and never did anything other than work. my dad when he was in hospice lived with me for his last six months and i convinced my mom to live with me and she wouldn't

because when she was -- my entire life grew up in a three bedroom home for 19 years we were in that house there was only four years we didn't have a relative living with us needed help which and my mom swore she wasn't going to move in but finally we convinced her to move in. you probably found the same thing with your moms and dads. the one thing they don't get there is not a son or daughter worth their assault that in mom or dad was in need they wouldn't make sacrifices with their own family their children and themselves to help mom and dad. i remember we used to lie like the devil to my mom who is a smart woman. she had social security and something left from the sale of her home. and we'll tell the druggist whatever the price is tell her

her prescription drug benefit covers it. here is the credit card because you know about us. too much pride. my mother would not have her children pay. when they are cutting deficits for seniors how is that going to help kids. they're going to go out there and make up the difference if they're worth their salt. and they are, they're from the families like we all are. it's time to quit hiding the ball. they say they're from the middle class. my dad had an expression. heed say don't tell me what you value, show me your budget and i will tell you what you value. let's take a look at their budget. let's take a look at what they value. on taxes governor romney wants to maintain the tax cut for the

top 2%. we want to for the american people. they say we can't give a cut to the middle class unless we take care of the top 1%. the top 2% of the bush tax cut, $800 billion goes to people of $1 million. $5 billion goes to 120,000 families. you will not see one correction on what i just said to you. it's a fact. 120,000 families they want to continue to be able to get $.5 trillion over the next four years. that gives the same people another $250,000 tax cut. they also won't tell you how

they're going to pay for it you heard in the debates. because there is no way to pay for it. he says i'm going to cut all those exceptions for the wealthy guys out there. ladies and gentlemen there are not enough exemptions for the wealthy guys. the reason why your kids taxes are going to go up $2,000 a year if they have a child is because they have to cut those tax loopholes like a mortgage deduction for people making less than $150,000 a year. that's why it goes up even if they get a tax cut. it goes up. they say no, it's not true. you heard in the debates the moderator or the president said well governor can you tell me one loophole you're going to eliminate. seriously, think about this. they can't name one. not one will they name because

folks it doesn't work. they go on and they cut medicaid by $800 billion over ten years by denying cutting the benefit they give to the states. say you're on your own. that's 19 million people going to be thrown off of medicare. how many of you know someone in a nursing home who first had to sell all of his or her property to qualify and the only reason they're there now is because of medicaid. they're going to get kicked out. where are they going to go? these aren't poor folk. these are middle class people who broke their neck their whole lives and the only thing they have is access to that home. ladies and gentlemen, middle class children with disabilities, families are going to lose the benefit. they december meat education and a $2500 tax cut to help kids get

into college. they cut pell grants for working class families. instead of signing a pledge as they have including the nominees to a guy name grover there is actually a pledge signed that says we will not raise one penny in taxes even for people who are making millions of dollars who don't need the tax cut and are not even asking for it. i come from a wealthy little state of delaware. i found out in my years in the senate wealthy people are just as patriot as poor people and it's time they step up. instead of signing a pledge to grover they should sign a pledge to the middle class saying we're going to give you a level playing field. that's what we're going to do.

ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you what we're going to do. on education we're going to under education and maintain those tax cuts to help your kids get to college, we're going to recruit math and science teachers. beer insisting on higher standards. and because we believe as my mother used to say joy children become what you expect of them. we expect a lot of from our children and they expect a lot from us. second on jobs we're going to create a million new manufacturing jobs, help businesses double their exports. how far give them tax breaks to companies that come home and create jobs here. there are over 600,000

high-tech manufacturing jobs available in america today without the skills available that's why we tied them up with community colleges so you walk out of the community college into a good paying manufacturing job. ladies and gentlemen, on energy we're going to cut it in half. we've already cut oil imports in more than any other administration. we've already cut it more than half in 16 years. it's oil, clean cole, natural gas, wind, collar, buy fuel and conservation. these guys voted against the bill that the senator passed and the president pushed which doubles mile ladge on -- mile and on automobiles by the year 2024. saving $1.7 trillion at pump and $12 billion -- 12 billion barrels of oil. on taxes. on taxes, we're going to -- we've cut taxes $3,600 so far for the middle class families and we're going to make permanent the tax cut. permanent the tax cut for the middle class and we're going to

ask the wealthy to pay a little bit more. and lastly we're going to reduce the deficit. we've already laid out a plan for $4 trillion. we've already cut $1 trillion in the debt over the next 10 years. and we're going to ask the wealthy there to pay a little more, too. you know why nothing's happened? if you notice when rahm was asked by the moderator if you could bring the budget, redules the budget deficit and it required any new revenues, would you support it? his answer was no. under no circumstances. none. ladies and gentlemen, and as we end this war in afghanistan, that will result over the next 10 years a savings of $825 billion. we're going to bring half of that to bring down the debt and the other half to begin to build american roads. american businesses. american schools. invest here in america. folks, look, it's a basic proposition. it's all about ex panledsing the middle class. and giving them a little bit of peace of mind.

a little bit of peace of mind. they got crushed by the recession of 2008. and romney and ryan's plan, it's all about the same old thing. the governor said the first thing i'll do is shred the regulations that in fact were placed on wall street and the banks. let them write the rules again. that's literally what he said. he didn't say literally write the rules, he said shred the regulation, do away with the new regulations on those banks. continue these massive tax cuts which amount to over $2 trillion for people who make $1 million or more. folks, we've seen this movie before. we know how it is. tends in a catastrophe for the middle class. nine million jobs lost. $16 trillion in lost wealth for middle class families. watching the equity in your homes, the price in 2006 for homes here was about $240,000, if i'm not mistaken.

now it's averaged about $86,000. a lot of you have been here a while. you planned on that equity in your home. in your retirement home. you planned on that equity. maybe for yourself or maybe even for your kids. it's up in smoke. tens of thousands of good people back in the states and cities you come from. they didn't do a thing wrong. they never missed a mortgage payment. all of a sudden they find these two guys up the block had those whacky mortgages and they got foreclosured on. the value of their house is now upside down. they lost tens of thousands in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars. that's how they planned on doing what i did, borrow against that to send their kids to college. they planned on that for their retirement so they wouldn't have to rely on their children. all of this resulted in a great recession of 2008 and we will not go back because i've said, we have a different vision. a different value set. unlike romney and ryan we don't see the american people in terms, as they talk about it, makers and takers. that's how they talk about it. in a major speech that ryan

gave to the spectator, he said 70% of the meche people are makers and 30% are takers. governor romney in that tape that's now become famous said 47% of the american people, which i resented, quite frankly, are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lives. that was his quote. well, folks, the american people should worry about that. because he doesn't even understand who half of america is. they were my mom and dad who broke their neck their whole life. they were millions of people working and paying their payroll taxes and property taxes and sales taxes. at an effective rate higher than romney paid his federal taxes. ladies and gentlemen, they're the people like some of you maybe in this room, or a lot of people you know if you're not in this room, who in fact all they have now is their social security and they don't pay any tax on it and they shouldn't have to pay any tax on it. they're also the 68,000 warriors that are traipsing

through those god-awful mountains in afghanistan. i've been in and out of aving and iraq 20 times -- afghanistan and iraq 20 times. they're not paying taxes because they should not have to pay tax on that salary. [cheers and applause] that 47% are the people who are the heart and soul, the spine of america. how many of you in this room are veat reasons? -- veterans? where are you? i think you'd agree with me. that this generation, my son's generation, and he spent a year in iraq, this generation has been incredible. they have stepped up. since 9/11 over two million of them have signed up knowing they were going to go over. 200,000 have strapped on those boots and gone to iraq and afghanistan. we only have one obligation and i think the vets would agree with me here. we have a lot of obligations to

our children, to the elderly, our schools, etc. only one sacred obligation. and that's to equip those we send to war and care for them when they come home. [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, we have to honor that sacrifice. we can tell you, when you go to afghanistan and iraq, one of the most moving things that occurs is the first time, i guess my sixth or seventh trip in iraq, a full colonel as we were getting to the c.17 to get to iraq said to me, mr. vice president, permission, permission to board a fallen angel. i refer to our warriors when they die in theater as angels.

fallen angels. and they brought in a flag-draped casket and strapped it to the floor in that c.17. turned it into a cathedral. and all we could think about, and it happened more than once with me, is about the family waiting at the other end. ladies and gentlemen, every single morning i check the number of dead and wounded as a consequence of these two wars. as of this morning 6,500 fallen angels. 50,010 wounded. many of them close to 25,000 with wounds that will require extensive medical care the rest of their lives. those of you guys and women who were in korea and vietnam, over 50% of the wounds suffered in

afghanistan and iraq, if they had been suffered in korea or vietnam, they would have been dead. but because of the so-called golden hour and the triage capability today they're alive. but they will need our help the rest of their natural lives. and we owe their families an overwhelming, an overwhelming debt. we must never forget their sacrifice and always keep them in our care and our prayer. and, ladies and gentlemen, these are the men and women who really are the backbone of this country. the american people -- [applause] let me conclude by saying to you that the american people are so much better, so much stronger, take so much more responsibility, neither

congressman ryan or governor romney give them credit for. i honestly, and i've served with eight presidents. i got elected as a 29-year-old kid to the senate. i've never seen two candidates for the highest office in the land who were more negative about the state of the country, more negative about the prospects of the future and have less faith than the willingness of the american people to accept responsibility . they talk about, they talk about the phrase that's been ber jected into the public round the last four years, the culture of dependency. that's who those 47% of the people are they think. i don't recognize the country they're talking about. not where i come from. not where i live. how could they have such a profound misunderstanding of the american people? ladies and gentlemen, this election's about a lot. but it's also about who we are as a country. and i've got news for governor romney and for congressman ryan. they are dead wrong.

america is neither dependent nor are we in decline. period. [applause] further i will say to my two colleagues what i say to every foreign leader i've had the privilege of meeting with, negotiating with or taking issue with. gentlemen, it's never, never, never a good bet to bet against the american people. [cheers and applause] ladies and gentlemen, we need you. we need you. we need your help to win the state of florida and we win the state of florida, this election is over. this election is done. so go out there now and vote. we need your help. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you. [cheers and applause]

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♪ >> chris christie campaigned in virginia today for mitt romney. he told supporters that the election will come down to who wins their state. you'll hear first from the company owner at this 50-minute event. [applause]

>> my pleasure, thank you. you bet. >> i will, i will. you don't have to beg. i'll read it just if you ask me to. of course i promise.

>> welcome. >> i'm happy to be back. >> thank you for coming. >> my pleasure. >> coming up, guys. appreciate it. my pleasure. how are you? hey, jerry. how are you guys doing? [cheers and applause] >> my uncle coined that. >> don't write over mitt.

>> of course not. you don't write over the next president of the united states. >> absolutely. >> graduate. >> my son, too. >> >> he grad? >> i went there last year. >> a fithe blue henne. >> thanks for coming. thanks for hanging in there. i know you guys have been here a long time. we have a lot to be excited about today. we're here on a corner -- [inaudible] just within a few yards you'll see james, architectural accents. and the list goes on as you round the block. i know there are a lot of small business representatives and small business owners and

employees here today. and here's to you for your efforts and your hard work. give them a hand. [applause] >> [inaudible] once remarked that the business of america is business. his words are as true today as they were when he said them nearly 100 years ago. small business drives our economy, it fuels our communities and it feeds our families. small businesses -- >> [inaudible] >> yep. small businesses like ours represent 97.8% of all employers. we employ half of america's work force. and create between 60% and 80% of the new jobs in this country. it's where job growth comes from and we all know just how very important those jobs numbers are. and i imagine you feel like i

do. i need my job and so do our employees. thankfully here we have secured jobs and you'll see trucks coming and going from a long, hard day any minute now probably. and i can't imagine the stress of being out of work and the anguish that would cause. unfortunately 23 million of our fellow americans are struggling for work today. but it does not have to be that way. [applause] mitt romney and paul ryan have a plan for a stronger middle class. more jobs and more takehome pay. and at the heart of their plan is put in place policies that champion small business so we can grow our economy, create jobs and get america back to work. [applause]

no matter who we send to elected office, they have a big job ahead of them. that's exactly the point, though. it's who we send to office. each one of us will make a big difference when we go to the polls in a few weeks. so when governor romney's team asked if they could borrow our parking lot this afternoon to celebrate a little and to talk about small business, i said sure. and then when they said governor chris christie would be joining us i said absolutely! [cheers and applause] but before we hear from governor christie, it's my privilege to introduce our great lieutenant governor, virginia's chief jobs creation officer, bill. >> you did a great job. you always do. >> thank you, melissa, thank you very much. good afternoon, everybody.

how are you doing? we are 18 days away from taking back america. [cheers and applause] so i want to ask you the only question that really matters. are you ready to win? are you ready to win? [cheers and applause] now you got to do better than that. are you ready to win? all right. that's better. look, thank you guys so much. let me do just a couple real quick thank yous. and then we're going to get governor cyst uphere to say a few words and fire up the virginia faithful. first of all, i want to thank the balls. melissa ball and the entire ball family have been so supportive of the governor and of me and of small business, of the nfib, of just everything that we have tried to do. but it is above and beyond the call of duty to open up your office in the middle of a beautiful friday afternoon and have 500 of your closest friends come over for a rally. so let's give ball office products, melissa and her whole team, a big round of applause.

[applause] and want to -- look, i want to thank you guys. i understand some of you all got here as early as 2:00 this afternoon and maybe a couple of -- couple a little bit earlier than. that thanks for coming and hanging out here with us this afternoon. i know there are a lot of places you could be today. a lot of things you could be doing today. but i trust that you're here because you believe in the cause of good government in america and you know that to get good government you got to work for it and you've got to invest in it and by being here today you're working for it and you're investing in it. and on behalf of governor romney and congressman ryan and governor mcdonald, i want to thank you all for everything you're doing to help take america back again. give yourselves a round of applause. [applause] look, let me say just a couple of things. we are 18 days away from an election that i believe will be a defining moment in the history of our country.

this election is about where our country is, the truth is our country is in serious trouble today. whether we're talking about these unacceptably high unemployment rates, 23 million people out of work, no sign of things getting better, we're talking about the reckless fiscal policies of washington, d.c., with a $16 trillion national debt, no sign of things getting better, we're talking about the fundamental assault on liberty that we have seen from this administration over the past four years, the weakening of the standing of the united states in the international community. in all of these areas the truth is that america is a nation today that is in serious trouble. four years ago we took a very wrong path. the american people took a chance on barack obama. they were moved by his powerful rhetoric and his lofty promises of hope and change.

but four years later that rhetoric has faded and all we're left with is a record, it is in every respect a record of failed leadership for our country and it's time for him to go. [cheers and applause] so, melissa, melissa said it right when she said it doesn't have to be that way. we have a candidate in mitt romney and a candidate in paul ryan that we can be proud of. and i had the privilege of chairing govern romney's campaign here in 2008. have the privilege of chairing it again this year. i've gotten to know this man pretty well over the course of the last four or five years. and want to tell you that i'm absolutely as confident as i can be that mitt romney is the right person at the right time with the right experience to get america back on the right track. it doesn't have to be this way. [applause]

so we have 18 days to take our country back. we have 18 days to work hard. the polls are very close. polls do not vote. people vote. this election will be won or lost in the next 18, 19 days. it depends on what you or i do to depend on our supporters and turnabout on election day. everything we can do. everything we can do like this to get our message out to the american people to talk about how we still believe the 21st century can be an american century, we need to do it. everything we can do to get the message out. i still believe america is worth fighting for, don't you? [applause] last but not least, i want to thank chris christie for being

here today. i remember back in 2009 when gov. mcdonnell and i would be traveling around in the car and bus and we would dial up the sky we had heard about in new jersey. there was a big buzz going around. this guy might actually get elected in new jersey. [laughter] you probably do not remember, but we called gov. christie a couple of days before the election and ask how things were looking. he said, we are going to win. we got off the phone and we said, if chris christie can win in new jersey, bob mcdonnell and bill bolling 10 when enter virginia. gov. christie has done a wonderful job. this is a guy that inherited a

$10 billion budget shortfall, balance the budget the old fashioned way. he cut spending and said no to tax increases and focused on growing the economy. is that not a good message for washington? he has become an outspoken, respected statesman and spokesman for our conservative republican values. we are honored he would take the time to come down to virginia to campaign for gov. romney and paul ryan and our entire republican team. i want you to give a warm virginia welcome to the governor of new jersey, gov. chris christie. [cheers and applause] >> all right, everybody.

welcome. thank you so much for waiting. i had a lady that said, you are late. i am sorry, the weather is pretty bad in new jersey. we were on the ground for a little while. i know you all have been waiting a long time for me. i appreciate you doing it. i know you are not just waiting for me. 18 days from now when mitt romney and paul ryan will change america for the better. [cheers and applause] you all may know i am an old prosecutor. those old habits die hard. whenever you were trying to win a case, trying to drive it home during the closing arguments to the jury, i always said to my prosecutors, do not use your own words, use the words of the person you are putting on trial. they are powerful. it is a powerful way to do it.

here is what we are going to do today. we are going to use the president's words. a few weeks ago, i watched the democratic national convention. i did it and sacrifice for the service of my nation. i watched it at home. i sat on my couch. i made my son patrick bring me a big bottle of water. whenever i hear that much bs i start to get lightheaded. i had to make sure i stayed conscious. i wanted to hear every word they were sitting at this convention. one of the most amazing things i heard this day was, the president at his convention said, government is the only thing we all belong to.

now, i want you to listen harder to that. government is the only thing we all belong to. look, i am from new tours a, there are several hundred thousand more democrats than republicans. -- i am from new jersey. even in new jersey we were taught that we do not belong to government, the government belongs to us. [applause] that is this president's philosophy. we belong to the government. our earnings belong to the government. our families belong to the government. we are pawns for him and the millions of additional

bureaucrats he has hired and a little cubicles all over washington, d.c. to plot and plan all of our futures. that is what this president believes. we belong to the government. government is the only thing we all belong to. i do not understand what else that could mean. this is him looking at us as if we are possessions of his grand plan. that has never been the country that i thought we were. i read the constitution. i think all of you read it, too. it starts off "we are the people." [cheers and applause] it is we the people who give limited power and authority to the government to help run a civilized society. we do not hand over our lives to the federal government. we do not hand over every bit of

our treasure to the federal government. we do not hand over our children's feature to the federal government. if we re-elect barack obama, we are going to be looking once again at a country that he thinks should be owned by the government. the government should pick the winners and losers. the government should decide whether a company is successful or not. i think america should pick winners and losers the way it always has. the integrity of each individual. [applause] two, ingenuity. who has the best ideas. the newest ideas. those are the ones that should be rewarded. work ethic, because we will work harder than anybody to get the

job done. if you belong to the government, you do not have to worry about that. the government will take care of everyone of your needs. it is a nice little club we all belong to. that is not a club i want to belong to. that is not a club i want to belong to. especially when it is run by barack obama. that might have worked in chicago, but it will not work as president of the united states. the second thing the president said recently was that he said, you cannot change washington, d.c. from the inside. now, i was listening to that one. i started to feel bad for the president. i know we have some media people out there.

you may not know this, but the president loves me. he loves watching me on tv. since he loves me, i want to help the president. i want to talk to you, mr. president. you have been living in side 1600 pennsylvania avenue for the last four years. if you do not think you can change washington from inside the white house, let's give you a plane ticket back to chicago. [cheers and applause] i mean, that is a scary thing for the president to say, is it not? you cannot change washington from the inside? it shows his arrogance. if he really believes that, then what is he doing asking for

another four years? you cannot change washington, d.c. from the inside? that is fine. we are happy to give you a bus ticket to the outside, mr. president. the worst part of that is, when he says that, it shows even more about his arrogance. he is saying, but it is not my fault. it is not my responsibility. it is george w. bush's fall. it is big oil's fall. it is the coal company's fault. it is the fault of the republicans in congress. it is john boehner's fall. it is mitch mcconnell's fault. it is anybody's fall to but mine. he says, give me another four years, i will figure it out. i am tired of waiting for you to

figure it out. [applause] i feel bad for the president. i really do. he does not know anything about leading. he has never let anything in his life. i do not want to be disrespectful to any legislators who might be out here, but, being in the legislature does not make you a leader. then he became a united states senator, and he never showed upkeep -- he barely showed up to take the oath of office. then he spent the next two years. he had been a state legislator. he had never had anything in his life -- he does not know how to lead. we have watched what he has been

like for the net last four years. he is lucky man wandering around a dark room with his hands up against the wall looking for the light switch of leadership. he cannot find it. in the next 18 days -- [applause] blindly walking around the white house looking for a clue. you know, the unfortunate thing for the president is this, there are clues everywhere. if he would just open his eyes and learn how to lead, there are clues everywhere. 23 million americans out of work one day leader in the white house. start putting people back to work. [applause]

here is another clue, mr. president. only you and the democrats of congress wanted obamacare, the country did not. we need to get rid of it, and mitt romney well. [cheers and applause] listen up, mr. president, here is another clue from the people. they believe they can spend their money better than the government can. they do not want your higher taxes. [applause] they want a smaller government and a smarter government that is more efficient. of course, we want the least fortunate to be taken care of. we take care of our neighbors whether the government asks us to or not. we know the government needs to be there for those who have fallen on difficult times. mitt romney believes that, too. he does that we need to have a

government that is efficient enough in other areas, that eliminates other spending so we can make sure we do the core things the government needs to do. defended the safety of our nation and make sure the least fortunate are given a hand up to get themselves on their feet so they can work for themselves and their families again. [applause] what we do not need, mr. president, what we reject that we will reject on november 6 is an agenda that says government is the solution to every problem. i heard the president the other night said, gov. romney says i want a bigger government, and that is not true. gov. romney is not the one who ran up $6 trillion in new debt as president. he is not the one that created new boards, commissions, czars

all over government that he is paying millions of dollars to try to manipulate more things to try to get his desired results. mitt romney is not the guy looking to take money away from hard working americans and redistributed across the country based on the government oppose the plan. he thinks the american people should decide how to spend their money, not the government. [cheers and applause] a few sundays ago before the first debate, gov. romney ask me to go on those sunday morning shows for him. you might remember before the first debate, the campaign was not flying high. people were feeling nervous about how the campaign was going and what the last month would look like. they ask me to go on the shows and deal with the feisty hosts. i do not know why they picked me. [laughter] [applause]

and so they asked me, they all ask me, what will happen on wednesday at the debates? what will happen? how can it possibly turn it around? i said, you wait until wednesday night. mitt romney is going to win the debate enter the race upside down. [cheers and applause] -- win in the debate and it turned the race upside down. you heard all of the geniuses on tv until the next three days. they said, gov. christie stepped into at this time. he made a huge mistake. does he not know that gov. romney is debating the almighty barack obama? does he not know you are not

supposed to raise expectations before a debate that you are supposed to lower them? you are supposed to lie to the american people about what you think. do not tell them the truth, because they cannot handle the truth. here is what i think, the american people deserve to hear the truth. mitt romney is better prepared, smarter, and more ready for the presidency. i knew he would show it in the debates and he did. [cheers and applause] you know what happens in politics, monday, tuesday, wednesday, i was the dumbest politician in america. i was the guy gov. romney would never speak to again after daring to predict he would win the debate and make this a horse race again. you know, the great thing about

the media is their principles are pliable. on thursday morning, i was albert einstein. [applause] thursday morning they are all calling my office saying, how did he know? what did you know? when did you know it? how did we not know? i just said, here is why i said what i said. it is two simple reasons. first, i know mitt romney. i have been supporting him for over a year. i have been friends with him for four. i know every time in this campaign when mitt romney is up against the wall, people were predicting he was going to finish his campaign, lose, be ended by other people. the competitive fire in side of

mitt romney said no. assistant newt gingrich after he beat mitt romney in south carolina. he said, i think is a pretty clear i will be the republican nominee. then he went down to florida and mitt romney white to the floor with him and ended his campaign. rick perry came up from texas saying he was the front runner in new hampshire. gov. romney stood on the stage and gave him such a whopping. he could not remember which departments of the government he wanted to eliminate. mitt romney reduced him to st. "oops!" now we go to barack obama. if i were on the president's campaign, i would have said, give the guy a red bull and get him moving.

i watched mitt romney. i took him seriously unlike some others. i say what i believe in my heart. i did not give the political spin. that is what mitt romney will do when he is president of the united states. [applause] now, there are 18 days to go. let me tell you this. it is encourages me -- it encourages me to see you out here. virginia is a state of consequence. i come from new jersey. we are not. i hate to tell you that i am fairly confident that met -- barack obama well when new jersey. mitt romney was in a hotel a round the table with around 20 people.

one guy was banging on the table. he said, you must campaign in new jersey. you can win new jersey. gov. christie won new jersey. he took a sip of his water and said, chris, is there any way i will win? i said, no, there is not to. he said, next question. [laughter] you, on the other hand, you in the commonwealth of virginia, you are a state of consequence. this entire election comes down to what you do in virginia. it is likely to come down to what you do enter virginia. when mitt romney asked me to come down here today, i said, yes, because you are a state of consequence. you are a state that will make a difference in the future. i see these young guys right

here in front of me, and what you do in the next 18 days is not for me. it is not for mitt romney. it is not for paul ryan. what you are doing is for these guys. what ever happens in the next 18 days, when i look at most of the faces out here, we have already had a great american life. we have had a life that has been blessed already because we have been americans enter a country that is the most prosperous and free that the world has ever known. every generation before ours has met the test which is to leave the country better for the next generation and it was left for us no matter what the challenge, no matter what the threat, no matter what the cost. the american people always rose

to the challenges not for themselves, but for them. now, with 18 days left, my question to you in virginia is, how hard are you willing to work to meet the challenge for them? [applause] i know we agree on this. we do not want to be the first generation that decides that we are going to bury our heads enter the sand and say these problems are too big and too hard, that everything is too difficult and we are not strong enough to fight back. we do not want to be the first set of americans who does that. think about this. we had a lot of people felt start this nation in this

commonwealth. america would not be america without thomas jefferson, james madison, all from the commonwealth of virginia. we also had a great patriot up north, too. a few. john adams who understood and articulated almost as well as jefferson. -- what it meant to be an american. after 50 years of america, the america he had fought for and put his life on the line for, john adams was near death. this is what he wrote in his diary. he wrote it for us. he said, you shall never know the sacrifices that we have made to secure for you your liberty. make a good use for it. if you do not, i shall repent and have an forever making the sacrifice at all.

john adams understood -- repent in have been for making the sacrifice at all. on his dying day, he wrote that in his diary. not for himself, but for us. so when this challenge came, a challenge he could have never foreseen, a continental country, the most powerful and successful the world has ever seen, $16 trillion in debt and a country full of citizens that are hopeful but dispirited, he never saw this challenge. he knew a challenge would come. he does not deserve to repent in heaven because we are and able to meet the challenge for the next generation. the difference is that mitt

romney and paul ryan understand the gravity of the challenge. they understand it will hurt to fix it. what they believe in more than the president does is the strength and the resilience of the american people to hear the truth, to step up to the plate to make the sacrifices, and to restore the country back to a greatness that we have often had an always deserved. i want all of you in the next 18 days to decide how much of your time are you willing to sacrifice? how much ari you willing to put forth to make sure america takes the right course this time? i will be all over the country for the next 18 days. i have four children between 9 and 19 and i do not want nor will i a permit for them to only know about america by reading about it and textbooks. i won them to live in the second

american century, and we have to make it happen for them. [cheers and applause] mitt romney and paul ryan can only lead us there if virginia takes it in the next 18 days and helps them over the finish line. i am here for gov. romney and congressman ryan today, but i am here much more for you. you can make a difference in america's feature. get home, open that phone book of yours, and get on the phone with every friend and relatives and neighbors and business associate and a client that you have and tell them all that now is not the time to sit on the sidelines. with 18 days to go, they need to give you their oath they will vote in this election and vote for mitt romney and paul ryan because you know that is the way to fix the broken country.

get on the phone. go door-to-door. go to call centers. do anything you can. you can give an hour a day for the next 18 days. one hour a date. just one hour a. if you do that, i am willing to guarantee you something. -- just one hour. i will be sitting up a in new jersey watching my tv. when they put the big map on the television set and virginia starts flashing, and it flashes and comes up red, that will be the red carpet that leads mitt romney to the white house. [cheers and applause] if you are willing to do that in

the next 18 days, i will give it everything i have. if you will fight with me, i will fight with you. if you say we will once again restore america to greatness by electing leaders who know how to lead who are not afraid to lead, who are not afraid to tell us the truth. we have to worry about putting somebody and enter the white house who wants to -- in the white house. i have asked him, will he do what ever you need to do to fix the country regardless of the politics? he said, that is why i